HC Deb 05 March 1985 vol 74 c463W
27. Mr. Fisher

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any plans to modify the application of the Sex Discrimination Act and Race Relations Act to small businesses.

Mr. Alan Clark

The Government are currently reviewing the legislative burden on small firms and will be making announcements on their conclusions in due course.

48. Mr. Kenneth Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of people in work in the private sector are employed in small businesses in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and West Germany.

Mr. Alan Clark

; No recent figures are available but estimates relating to 1976 suggest that just over one-third of private sector employment in the United Kingdom is in small businesses. Because of differences in the sources, definitions and time periods covered by the available statistics for other countries it is impossible to make valid international comparisons of the proportion of employment in the private sector which is in small businesses.